Virginia Stroud

Early life Virginia Stroud was born in Madera, California, on March 13, 1951. Her mother died when she was eleven, so Stroud moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, to live with her sister. She sold her first painting at the age of 13. When Stroud competed for the title of princess in 1969, Cherokee women wanted her to represent the tribe in a "traditional" Cherokee outfit, which was problematic since Cherokee women wore contemporary mainstream fashions for at least two centuries and wore very little clothing before that. A committee of Cherokee women, appointed by Chief W. W. Keeler designed a dress based on a hundred-year-old Cherokee dress owned by a Cherokee lady, Wynona Day, and from surrounding Southeast tribes' formal regalia, and they created the "Tear Dress." Elizabeth Higgins (Cherokee Nation) sewed the first tear dress for Stroud.

Art career Stroud painted with tempera and gouache and was a fine art printmaker. She also painted kinetic wooden sculptures and fine art furniture.

Her work is in such public collections as the Gilcrease Museum, Millicent Rogers Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art,

Honors In 1970, Stroud became the youngest Native artist to win first place in the Woodlands division of the Philbrook Museum's annual juried art show. The Five Civilized Tribes Museum declared Stroud a Master Artist in 1986.